The Pentagon confirmed Wednesday that it has begun to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria but appeared to contradict President Trump’s assertion that the Islamic State has been defeated.
“The coalition has liberated the ISIS-held territory, but the campaign against ISIS is not over,” said Dana White in a brief statement issued a few hours after President Trump tweeted, “We have defeated ISIS in Syria.”
“We have started the process of returning U.S. troops home from Syria as we transition to the next phase of the campaign,” White said, adding, “For force protection and operational security reasons we will not provide further details.”
Those details include whether the U.S. will follow though on its pledge to train up to 30,000 security forces to ensure ISIS doesn’t take back territory liberated by U.S.-backed Syrian fighters.
“We will continue working with our partners and allies to defeat ISIS wherever it operates,” White said in the statement.
